The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (342 page)

Mac looked around, his heart stampeding as if he’d run up a mountainside. He scampered down to the rushing river of blood and plunged the bottle into the current. Blood splashed all over him, but when he pulled the bottle out, it was pure freshwater again.

He laughed and shouted and charged back toward Albie and Abdullah and Bihari. But they had apparently never seen Michael and quickly tired of Mac’s antics. “You didn’t see him! You didn’t, did you?”

They looked at him gravely from the trucks.

“Did you see me pour the water out? Well, did you? Bihari, you did, ’cause you told me it was worth its weight in wheat. Remember? Well, then where did I get this?”

Bihari got out of the truck. “Where
did
you get that?” he said.

“From that river right there! And do you see any blood on me?”

“I don’t!”

“Still think you’re doomed? The GC is going to leave you alone when they see what’s happened to your water source. But you send your people and your equipment down here like usual. God takes care of the ones he’s sealed, amen?”

By now Albie and Abdullah had come to see as well.

“Try a taste of this, gentlemen. You’ll want to drink it all, but it’s for sharing.”

Rayford and George found themselves in the middle of a pilgrimage of some sort. Almost everyone else was on foot. From their clothes they appeared to be both town and country folk, and some peasants. “English, anyone?” George said.

Two more times he said it, and finally a man—who appeared to be with his wife and perhaps a couple of other family members—came alongside the vehicle. “English? Yes,” he said.

“Where are we going?” George said.

“We are going where we have been invited,” the man said.

“All of you? Invited?”

“I do not know about the others. We were invited.”

“Who invited you?”

“Three men. They came to the door and told us to meet them out here and they would tell us good news.”

“But you are not Carpathia loyalists,” George said. “I see no mark.”

“On you either, sir,” the man said. “And yet you seem no more afraid than we do.”

“You don’t even seem concerned,” George said.

“The men told us not to fear.”

“Why did you believe them? What gave you such confidence?”

“They were believable. What can I say?”

“Ask some others why they are here.”

The man spoke to another group in Spanish. Then to another.

“We were all invited by the same men,” he said.

“And who are they?”

“No one knows.”

“And yet you all risk your lives to be here.”

“It is as if we have no choice, sir.”

Rayford stopped and the crowd surged past him. “What does this sound like to you, George?”

“The same thing it sounds like to you: Ming’s story.”

“Exactly. And we’ll know for sure from the first words that come from their mouths. If the one . . . Christopher—?”

“Right.”

“—starts out with the gospel, and the next one predicts what’s going to happen to Babylon . . .”

“Nahum.”

“Right. And Caleb warns about taking the mark, well, that’s all we need to know.”

“But where’s the GC, Rayford? These guys got people saved in China, but the Peacekeepers still killed ’em.”

Both men turned in their seats to watch for the enemy.

“Maybe God and these guys work differently in different parts of the world.”

Leah Rose worked in the basement of Lionel Whalum’s huge home in Long Grove, Illinois. She and Hannah were making an inventory of medical supplies and a list of what was needed at various Co-op locations. They were working with printouts from Chloe Williams.

“I’m looking for a place that needs more than supplies, frankly,” Leah said.

“I hear you. Is anything more exhausting than being idle? I don’t know if I want to be in the middle of combat again, but I’ve got to be somewhere I’m needed.”

“Problem is,” Leah said, “Petra doesn’t need medicine
or
nurses. But I’d like to at least stop by there on the way to my next assignment.”

“Hmm, really? Wonder who? I mean, wonder why?”

“Shut up, Hannah.”

Suddenly, Leah’s knees buckled and she almost fell.

“What was that?” Hannah said. “You all right?”

“Yeah. I don’t know. I just went weak all of a sudden, but it passed.”

But as soon as she had said that, she dropped to her knees.

“Leah!”

“I’m okay. It’s just—it’s just that I . . . oh, God, yes. I will, Lord. Of course.”

“What? What is it?”

“Pray with me, Hannah. We’re supposed to pray for Mr. Whalum.”

“Should I get his wife?”

“We’re supposed to do it right now. Lord,” Leah said, “I don’t know what you’re impressing upon me except that Mr. Whalum needs prayer right now. We trust you, we love you, we believe in you, and we know you are sovereign. Do whatever you have to do to keep him safe, and all those who are with him. He and Rayford and George and Ree should be leaving soon, so give them whatever they need, protect them in whatever way they need protection, and go before them into India.”

“Here they come,” Rayford said, pointing past the west end of the crowd to show George the GC. They pulled up in Jeeps and vans, maybe a hundred troops, uniformed and armed. They had bullhorns.

While Rayford drove to the other side of the crowd and parked where he could see the people, the GC, and the front of the assembly, a GC officer announced, “This is an unlawful assembly. You are violating the law. There is no facility here for administering the mark of loyalty, and you are so many months past now that you will not be allowed to rectify that oversight. Appearing in public without the mark of loyalty is punishable by death at the hands of any law-abiding citizen, but if you will disperse now and go directly back to your homes, we will offer a brief extension and allow you to take the mark within twenty-four hours. An application site is available as close as Tamel Aike or Laguna Grande, both within sixty miles of here.”

The people did not stop, did not look, did not appear troubled. The GC began again. “This is your last warn—”

“Silence!”

The commanding voice came from the front, from one of the three, and without amplification.

“My name is Christopher, and I speak under the authority of Jesus Christ the Messiah and Son of the living God. He has determined that those of this company who receive his everlasting gospel today shall enter into his millennial kingdom at his glorious appearing, just over two years from now.”

The people began to murmur, and the GC were on their bullhorns again, but the horns malfunctioned and no one could hear them.

“My coworkers Nahum and Caleb are here with me only to proclaim that which the Lord has assigned us to proclaim. And then God’s message of salvation as found in his only begotten Son will be presented by one of the 144,000 witnesses he has raised up from the tribes of the children of Israel.

“And now begone, you workers of iniquity, you servants of the evil ruler of this world. You shall come nigh unto these people and this place never again. Begone lest the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ strike you dead where you stand!”

The GC ran for their vehicles and for their lives. Christopher said, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

Nahum followed with his curse on Babylon, and Caleb warned of the consequences of accepting the mark of the beast. Then a white-robed evangelist strode to the front and said, “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

“And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

“Wheat’s a-comin’ and you’ve got water galore, Bihari. ’Scuse me while I make a phone call.” Mac punched in Rayford’s number. “Ray? Where you at, man? When you guys headin’ this way? Good! Listen, you’ve seen the rivers? That’s right, you’re
on
the Chico
.
Let me tell you, it doesn’t affect the believers. At least it doesn’t here.” He told him of his encounter with Michael and what had happened to the blood. “We’re about an hour from takin’ off, so tell those brothers and sisters the water is comin’! Well, that’s right, they don’t need it that bad now, do they? Bihari here’s lookin’ at me like I’ve just lost it. Well, hey, you tell ’em a deal’s a deal.”

“Can I tell him, Captain Steele?” George said.

“Tell who what?”

“Luís. About the GC having to leave this area alone. And about the water.”

“Like to share good news, do you?”

“You bet!”

“Knock yourself out.”

When they got back, Luís jogged up to the car. “Well?”

“George wants the privilege,” Rayford said. “We roll in ten minutes.”

Lionel would take the first four hours, then Ree would take over, but Rayford would land the craft. Ray was strapping into the copilot’s chair when Lionel fired up the engines, but as he put his headphones on he sensed something wrong. “You okay?” Rayford said.